The global crystal resources have completely activated the industry of this northern Jiangsu county

At the autumnal equinox, there is already a hint of coolness in the air in the early morning.

Most people are still asleep, but Sister Yin, a small village in Donghai County in Lianyungang, has already begun to set off to catch a special big gathering:

Crystal Collection

On the fourth and ninth days of the lunar calendar, on the Taojing Square in the East China Sea, thousands of stalls are densely packed with crystals from Brazil, Madagascar, Zambia, the Netherlands, Russia, Vietnam, and any country in the world that you can think of or don't think of.

Local crystal craftsmen like Sister Yin like to look for their favorite rough stones on the big fair, and such stones are often more sought-after, so the sooner you go, the better.

And many more people joined the team in another way.

They held mobile phones equipped with stable brackets and broadcast live in different languages. Americans like crystal balls the most, the British like crystal pillars the most, and you can give you what you want.

In the East China Sea, which has a population of more than 1.2 million, a quarter of the population is engaged in crystal-related industries. Driven by more than 30,000 crystal online stores in Donghai, 120,000 crystal products are sold from Donghai to the world every day by express delivery.

After years of development, Donghai Crystal has developed from a crystal origin to a world supermarket that "buys the world, sells the world", and has become the world's largest crystal raw material distribution center and trading center.

In 2016, the East China Sea was awarded the title of "Crystal Capital of the World" by UNESCO, and the transaction volume reached 34 billion yuan in 2022.

Crystal has become the most distinctive industry in the East China Sea to enrich the people and increase income.

01.

This time in the East China Sea, I heard stories about crystals everywhere.

Many Donghai people remember that when they were children, large and small "flints" (local names) were scattered everywhere in the fields, ganglings or large and small river beaches of Fangshan, Niushan, Shihu, Quyang, Hump and other townships in Donghai County.

They are as large as a fist, as small as corn kernels, and the most large as eggs and quail eggs, most of which are translucent or opaque white, and a few that are transparent or even very crystalline.

The crystal resources of the East China Sea are too rich. Half of its area contains crystal and quartz, with a total reserve of 300 million tons, of which the crystal reserves are about 300,000 tons, the storage volume accounts for more than 70% of the country, the silicon content is as high as 99.99%, and the reserves and quality rank first in the country.

However, before the 80s of the 20th century, crystal was listed as a rare special non-metallic mineral product by the state, which was purchased and managed by the state, and individual mining and trading were prohibited, and the crystal dug by farmers during production could only be sold to the purchasing point of the supply and marketing cooperatives and the "105" mine.

After the reform and opening up, farmers have a certain freedom to mine crystal in the responsible field, and with the maturity of synthetic crystal technology, the role of natural crystal in national defense and other industries has gradually been replaced by synthetic crystal, and the state's control over crystal has gradually relaxed, and crystal, a treasure given by nature to the people of the East China Sea, has gradually gone to the people, and people began to use crystal to seek ways to get rich.

In 1991, a East China Sea crystal merchant named Zhu Jingqiang bought a dotted white crystal called "crystal within the crystal" for 12 yuan, named "Halley's Comet". 12 yuan changed, a sharp increase of hundreds of times did not shoot, became the explosive news in the East China Sea at that time.

Then, the people of Donghai set their sights on overseas crystal deposits.

In 1996, Yang Zhengshan, a native of the East China Sea, was the first to come to Madagascar. He came with the first private passport issued by Donghai County. In less than half a year, Yang Zhengshan sent back 3 containers of crystal to China in a row, each container made a net profit of 900,000 yuan.

Up to now, it is said that there are more than 250,000 "Taojing" teams in the East China Sea, and as long as there is a place where there is crystal mining in the world, there are the footsteps of the people of the East China Sea.

In Zhaozhuang Village, Quyang Township, Donghai, there are more than 40 people in one village who are searching for crystals overseas.

The global crystal resources have completely activated the crystal industry in this northern Jiangsu county.

02.

The epidemic is a disaster for most industries, but for Donghai Crystal, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Many people have no way to do physical business, transform to do the network, Donghai people from Brazil these places into the amethyst cave, amethyst cluster, is very suitable for delivery and sales on the network, the unit price is not high, online sellers have come to buy.

Since October 2019, Donghai Crystal Cross-border E-commerce Center has been open to the public.

Subsequently, the Donghai Live E-commerce Industrial Park and the Cross-border Internet Celebrity Live Street were born. This cross-border e-commerce center has grown from less than 120 young contracted anchors to 1,156 now, with the addition of handicraft areas and furniture decoration areas, and the number of cooperation platforms has reached 12.

After experiencing the epidemic, people believe that crystal stone can bring some positive omen, crystal is given transshipment, wealth and other roles in the West, so it is more likely to be favored by consumers overseas.

Compared with good luck stones, more Europeans and Americans believe that crystal stones can be used to heal, stimulate and protect the body and mind, and restore damaged or depleted energy in the patient's body.

On TikTok, posts tagged #crystalhealing# currently have 3.33 billion views.

More and more people in Donghai are aware of the huge opportunities brought by cross-border e-commerce.

Zhao Zhonggang, secretary of the general branch of the party in Xingxi Village, Donghai County, has an account on Douyin "Crystal Man" and is a well-known local Internet celebrity.

He said that at present, the annual output value of crystal in the village exceeds 1 billion yuan online and offline, of which the annual output value of cross-border e-commerce exceeds 300 million yuan, which is three times more than in 2019.

In 2020, Zhao Zhonggang led the establishment of the "Xingxi Village Crystal E-commerce Industrial Park", and then built a number of cross-border live broadcast training bases. Through the study and training, the villagers turned into anchors with goods.

Cross-border e-commerce brings unlimited business opportunities, and Zhong Haibing, vice president of Donghai County E-commerce Association, also has a deep understanding of this. Unlike in the past, when crystal products were only sold offline through distributors or exhibitions, he began to conduct cross-border e-commerce live broadcasts in 2016, and the "circle of friends" gradually expanded to Singapore, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. Today, its team's annual sales reach 780 million yuan.

03.

In this research in the East China Sea, one of the biggest feelings is: "dare to be down-to-earth, honest and daring, pragmatic and daring to do, realistic and daring to create" crystal spirit is vividly reflected here.

The "Crystal Set" we mentioned earlier is an example. Perhaps the younger generation of Donghai does not know, but the older generation of Donghai people have witnessed the bitter journey of the crystal collection from scratch, and they also understand that it is not easy to come by.

The local government's follow-up to the trend has also turned this loose and spontaneous bazaar into today's organized and large-scale crystal carnival.

It is precisely because of the first generation of Taojing people like Yang Zhengshan who bravely broke into the world and constantly replenished the supply of the East China Sea, which created the wonderful situation of "buying the world and selling the world" in the East China Sea today.

Donghai government, in 1991 boldly held the "East China Sea Crystal Festival", became the most grand ceremony in Donghai County for more than 30 years, this grand ceremony has continued to this day, just past September 26, the opening ceremony of the 16th China East China Sea International Crystal Festival was held in Donghai Crystal City, after 33 spring and autumn "East China Sea Crystal Festival", for friends from all over the world to understand crystal, love crystal, buy crystal provides a high-quality platform.

In the future, the crystal industry in the East China Sea will focus on building a crystal jewelry industry development system that is "dominated by natural crystal, expanded by colored gemstone processing, and breakthrough in Sino-Czech artificial crystal cooperation", and strive to be at the forefront of the world in upgrading the industrial level, expanding cultural connotation, promoting international exchanges, and establishing a standard system, and continue to move towards a world-class characteristic industry.

Beautiful crystal, a world language, is not only loved by Chinese, but also by foreigners.

Telling crystal stories well is the mission of the East China Sea,

Expanding the crystal industry is the future of the East China Sea.

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